A Scientific Research Vault
Researchers at Binghamton University, in collaboration with Cornell University, suggest that spiders use their webs to assist in their hearing mechanism. Distinguished Professor Ron Miles and doctoral student Junpeng Lai conducted the experiment at the Binghamton University anechoic chamber.
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The Nature Fix – Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams is a beautiful effort to investigate into nature’s restorative benefits on human brain.
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Stuart Alan Kauffman is not only a complex-systems researcher but he is also a polymath, with a degree in medicine and training in biochemistry, genetics, physics, philosophy and other fields. Very deftly he roams across disciplinary boundaries looking for answers to the riddles that obsess him. In, A World Beyond Physics, he takes up the conundrum of life’s origin.
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Dendrites, branch like extensions protruding from a single neuron, participate in computations and permutations to give a synchronized output to the neuron. Researchers at MIT have now demonstrated that not only different types of dendrites (of a single neuron) collect input from various regions of the brain, they also process that information in different customized ways.
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Replicating fusion on earth is one of the things that scientists globally look forward to. Once they are able to reach a state through which fusion could be created, we might get virtually inexhaustible supply of power to generate electricity.
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Researchers at University College London have discovered a new form of non-invasive therapy for neurological disorders. The technique called “magnetomechanical stimulation” (MMS) involves microscopic magnetic particles for remotely stimulating brain cells.
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Parallel Worlds: The Science of Alternative Universes and Our Future in the Cosmos by Michio Kaku is a pandora’s box of parallel worlds hovering around us all the time. This is my third read after Physics of The Future and The Future of Humanity from the same author.
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The Emergent Multiverse: Quantum Theory According to the Everett Interpretation is an effort on the part of David Wallace to vindicate Hugh Everett’s idea of many worlds. The concept of multiverse was initially taken seriously in philosophy than in physics. May be because in physics the idea came much later, that is, with the emergence of quantum mechanics.
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Researchers at the University of Bristol, U.K. have fabricated a flapping-wing microrobot that can produce more power than a similar-sized insect. The micro-air vehicle is a product of biomimicry, inspired from bees and other flying insects.
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The idea that nanobots flowing through our blood streams to deliver localised medication or to detect any tumour formation is no more a far-fetched dream. A group of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (MPI-FKF), have developed microswimmers that can navigate through biological fluids, areas that are otherwise difficult to access. Steering is done through external form of light energy.
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The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is one book that talks about how science progresses. In addition, it also lays stress on the structure of its history.
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To control a remote robot via electromechanical devices, require the operator to wear huge and at times bulky gear. To make things easier, researchers from Hong Kong and China have fabricated a flexible skin patch, which has an ability to provide haptic feedback. Now not only the user can receive feedback from another (human) user but also from a robot to be more specific, haptic feedback from remotely controlled robot.
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Hunt for a new stellar body is always on. Space is full of astronomical bodies and star gazers continuously search for new stars and planets into the known realm of humanity. In one such effort, an astronomer at University of California, Riverside in collaboration with a group of citizen scientists have spot a huge gas planet. The newly discovered body is otherwise hidden from view by typical stargazing tools.
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Plant evolves to protect itself, there is no random mutation at DNA level. In a collaborative effort, researchers from University of California, Davis, and the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Germany concluded that when it comes to mutations, there is no such thing as randomness. In fact, it is in a non-random way that benefits the plant, claimed Grey Monroe, an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.
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Last year I saw the movie, Contact. And I found the plot very propulsive, so decided to read the book written by Carl Sagan. Like a teenager, I’m equally fascinated with the idea of space exploration and extra-terrestrial life/intelligence. And reading Contact was surely a treat.
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